The Harare city council’s decision to shut down many firms dealing with funeral services has led to the birth of a thriving but illegal “death business” at state-owned hospitals in the Zimbabwean capital.
Hospital employees, working with illegal undertakers, are cashing in on bereaved relatives who can no longer afford skyrocketing funeral fees.
In September, the council temporarily closed down 21 licensed coffin-selling firms. It had proved they had started preparing bodies for burial, for which they were neither licensed nor properly equipped.
Moreover, this “moonlighting” by the coffin-makers deprived the council of much-needed revenue.
But investigations by the Standard newspaper soon proved that council action had brought an undesirable element to the business of death.
There was a sharp increase in funeral costs after the closure of the private parlours.
A Harare woman who declined to be named said she went through a nightmare after a close relative died at home. “We moved from one parlour to another after the government hospitals told me that they had no space. The private parlours are charging as if it’s a crime to have a dead relative,” she said.
There are only six properly licensed funeral parlours in Harare. They are now charging between Z$150 000 and Z$200 000 to cover a funeral. The money caters for the preparation of the body and transport only.
An official at Doves Funeral Services said they now charge Z$180 000 for a funeral. The fee does not include transport costs outside Harare.
Sources at the Harare Central Hospital mortuary said workers, realising the desperate situation facing many bereaved people, are making fat profits by preparing the bodies for burial at the hospital under cover of darkness.
Some of the workers have teamed up with illegal undertakers to form their own private funeral parlours. One such parlour is located in Highfield’s Gazaland area.
A visit to the hospital last week indicated that more than 20 illegal undertakers were conducting thriving businesses, advising mourners on how to get their deceased relatives buried at an affordable “people’s” cost. The illegal undertakers were even ready to go to the houses to prepare the bodies.
“How can we help you?” asked one undertaker, eagerly, unaware he was talking to a reporter. “Where is the body? Is it an adult or a child? Do you have the papers [burial order]? We can help you bury your relative and I tell you we are the cheapest in town.”
He said the cost of preparing the body would be Z$20 000. The job is done in a backyard parlour in Highfield’s Gazaland.
“We can also provide transport, a coffin or casket and help you with the documentation,” he said enticingly. “We can even come to your house to prepare the body and our coffins range from Z$28 000 to Z$80 000.”
Investigations last week revealed the probability that normal procedures were not being followed when private parlours brought in the bodies.
Security at both Beatrice Road Infectious Diseases Hospital and Wilkins Hospital mortuaries proved dubious, at the very least. The City of Harare’s acting director of health, Prosper Chonzi, is reportedly probing the activities of the funeral parlours.
Last week, he could not be reached for comment as he was reported to be attending a funeral, out of town.
The City of Harare charges more than Z$20 000 to bury an adult in any of its cemeteries. A grave for an adult at the low-income Granville cemetery costs Z$19 550 during weekdays and Z$24 550 at weekends. — Zimbabwe Independent